Radio stations halt Web streaming -and other U.S. tech news
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest owner of radio stations in Hawaii, has ordered all of its stations nationwide to halt streaming their audio over the Internet.
"It is our intention to resume streaming when it makes legal and financial sense," says CEO Kevin Mayer.
Clear Channel's local stations include KSSK AM & FM, which has dominated the adult listening audience in Honolulu for two generations.
Advertising agencies signed a contract with members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) to pay them triple fees when their commercials are Web cast. Clear Channel suspended Web streaming under pressure from advertisers because it does not yet have workable technology for masking out those commercials.
Several other broadcast chains intend to follow suit, although some radio stations negotiated their own AFTRA contracts to permit Web streaming without incurring extra fees.
In other U.S. tech news:
+ The Borders Books and Music chain, suffering losses in its online division, has reportedly contracted to have Amazon.com handle its online sales from now on. This will strengthen Amazon's position against the closest thing to a rival it now has, Barnesandnoble.com.
+ Napster took so much heat from recording labels in a Tuesday court hearing from recording labels that say people can still find copyrighted files for free, that U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said, "Maybe the system needs to be closed down." But she didn't order that.
+ PDG Inc., the Atlanta maker of the e-commerce shopping tool PDG Shopping Cart, says hackers have found a vulnerability in the software to steal credit card numbers and have in fact stolen some. A software patch has been circulated and the FBI is investigating.
+ Warner Brothers has e-mailed its newsletter subscribers to tell them that a hacker broke into its internal computer system, found its newsletter e-mail address book, and spammed addresses with get-rich-quick schemes.
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